It looks like NBC and Mark Burnett are discovering that it's a little more difficult to keep the secrets of a smash-hit reality show under wraps when you're filming on the island of Manhattan as opposed to a remote island halfway around the world.

According to numerous reports, the Survivor producer began filming his sequel to this past winter's The Apprentice series in New York this week, and several spoilers are already rolling in, including an apparent increase in the cast size from 16 to 18 contestants, the descriptions and backgrounds of the contestants, and even some contestant photos taken by New York newspaper photographers.

According to The New York Post, the program's film crews have been trying to use a cover story that they're working on a "foreign language documentary," but New York residents quickly stopped believing that lame excuse -- a claim that will no doubt become more difficult to believe once Donald Trump associates Carolyn Kepcher and George Ross begin appearing on the filming locations. The early reports also indicate that Apprentice 2 appears to be suffering from "Survivor 2 syndrome" -- in which, based on already successful backgrounds of the contestants, a good chunk of the cast seems to be less interested in the program's $250,000 one year salary and likely more interested in their shot at "fame." The Post reports that the cast includes four Harvard graduates and three folks with degrees from the Wharton School of Finance -- with one of the three also being one of the same folks who graduated from Harvard, where, for good measure, he/she also graduated first in their class (makes it kind of hard to believe such a person would have a difficult time finding an extraordinary job opportunity the normal way, doesn't it?) Additionally, two of the contestants are reported to already be self-made millionaires. Whether this will translate into the types of "primping for the camera" reports that were commonplace during the filming of the initial sequel to Summer 2000's Survivor phenomenon (a sequel which featured struggling actresses and wannabe celebrity chefs such as Jerri Manthey and Keith Famie) is unknown.

In the meantime, Reality TV World users have also been doing some snooping of their own, with one of our members stumbling across the contestants on Tuesday morning as they apparently entered Trump Towers, luggage in hand, for their initial meeting with The Donald. According to "trigirl," the new cast of eighteen includes at least one African-American man, two African-American women (no doubt looking to distance themselves as much as possible from Omarosa... at least we hope!), a Troy look-a-like, an extremely short woman, a blond "Barbie doll", a "Ken" to go with "Barbie," another blond woman sporting a huge engagement ring, and one male contestant who thought it appropriate to bring his guitar with him (perhaps Samsonite makes guitar cases?)

Whether this is the tip of the spoiler iceberg or if Mark Burnett will find a way to keep the secrecy of his new mega-hit intact remains to be seen, however our guess is that unlike in his Survivor locations, the government isn't likely to be shutting down the airspace above Manhattan anytime soon, so whether there will be any mystery left to this fall's Apprentice 2 broadcasts is still to be determined. Although, upon re-examination, perhaps attempting to film a top-secret smash-hit reality show in the "media capital of the world" wasn't the wisest decision the obsessive Burnett has ever made... how's Apprentice 3: Panama sound?

Filming a reality-TV show -- especially a hit like The Apprentice 2 -- in the media capital of the world, New York City, has led to an unprecedented amount of information becoming public during filming ... at least, unprecedented for a Mark Burnett show. In particular, a product placement (a specialty of executive producer Burnett), created a bizarre scene in just the third challenge of the show.

Last week, the New York Daily News reported that a May 18 marketing tie-in for Proctor & Gamble's Crest toothpaste went awry for one of the teams on the show. Contestants had been recruited to sell a new toothpaste, Crest Whitening Expressions, in "Refreshing Vanilla Mint" flavor with scratch-and-sniff boxes. At least one of the teams ended up in Washington Square Park, where it hired a plump 51-year-old woman (apparently a street person) to haul the empty boxes back to the truck and bring the contestants new boxes for the munificent sum of $20.

As the woman worked, she was reported to mumble, "I have to do a good job for Crest." After about an hour, she had worked herself into a trance, and she started rolling on the ground chanting "Crest! Crest! Crest!" Finally, an off-duty EMT technician and another passerby helped the woman back to the Crest truck -- where she promply had a seizure and passed out across the front seats.

After being out for three minutes, the woman awoke, vomited, and then said, "Where's my money?" So much for hiring the homeless. While the team was happy to see her go, Apprentice co-star Carolyn Kepcher jumped all over the hapless contestants, asking them which idiot had hired her. The Daily News notes that Apprentice cameramen captured the entire incident -- but we have little idea whether we'll even see it on The Apprentice 2 after editing.

Other advertisers have been luckier. Reports received by Reality TV World place the teams selling cups of gellato (basically upscale ice cream) at Toys "R" Us (2 for $5), the ESPN Zone Restaurant ($2 apiece) and the Jacob Javits Center on May 15, generally with 2 "sales people" and a cashier per each of two stands in each location. We don't know for certain whether these six-person set-ups indicate that there are three teams of six each on The Apprentice 2 (since it has 18 contestants instead of the 16 from Apprentice 1), although that seems like a logical conclusion.

Filming on The Apprentice 2 apparently began May 11. According to a Reality TV World message-board poster named "erms", the first challenge, which filmed through May 13, involved creation of a new "boy toy" for Mattel. The May 15 gellato challenge must have been the second one, and the May 18 Crest challenge appears to have been the third one.

We will continue to look for more information about the ongoing production of The Apprentice 2 amidst the seven million residents of NYC. Our only promise is that we will not repeat everything that we know (at least until filming is over), unless it becomes public knowledge from another source....

Finally getting to read this section. Those are good spoilers. I just really hope they didn't cast any "Omarosa" types. I don't think I could handle watching someone like that again--not worth my breathe swearing at the tv. And I hope they show the part when Carolyn is asking "which idiot hired the street person" --

These spoilers sound great...really entertaining. I also hope there isn't another Omoraso. I dont like that they cast all people that seem not to be in need of the $250,000 salary. They really need to look at the average working class person. I think the audience would take to that more.

Am I allowed to put in here what I heard today? It was actually in CNN and a whole bunch of other places--I don't want to put it somewhere I shouldn't. It's about too much betting that was done on two of the contestants and then they suspended betting. The same thing happened with Sandra Diaz-Twine on the Survivor before the All Stars. Too much suspicious betting. Of course, the winner is picked live, so no one knows for sure who wins, but it's possible these are the last two.

By the way, the women are really making all women look bad, thank goodness Jen. C got fired today!

Ok, it said that a lot of big bets were put on Kelly and the other Jennifer that is still left, who knows if that's right, but that's what they are saying. Her name is Carolyn. I had to look Kelly up since I didn't know if that was a guy or girl (Can you tell I haven't been paying that much attention) --it's a guy. Got to go to bed now, good night Puddin!!

Thanks for posting that Dglaze. I was just talking to my eye doctor about the Apprentice today and I mentioned that I hope either Kelly or Jennifer wins. They seem to the quieter ones on the show where they aren't flipping out, over criticising anyone or just having a cow of a meltdown. )()